Universal shopping center for international operation

ABSTRACT

An international transaction system for operation over the internet/intranet provides a pre-transactional calculation of all charges involved in any international transaction. Upon the option of the customer, the goods can be viewed on catalogue sheets translated to a language of the customer&#39;s choice, and the price provided in a currency selected by the customer. The customer also has the option of initiating the order with automatic credit authorization, generation of an electronic title or commercial invoice and arrangements and payment of shipping charges and any taxes and import/export duties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is related to electronic merchandise catalogue andordering systems for use on the internet/intranet. In particular, thepresent invention is directed to the facilitation of internationalpurchasing of goods over the internet/intranet, addressing all aspectsof such transactions.

BACKGROUND ART

Consumers have already discovered the advantages of shopping from theirhomes by the use of catalogues, television shopping channels or bycomputer transaction systems. There are numerous public internet websites and private intranet sites that offer various articles andservices for sale. Most of these public web sites and private sitesoperate in national configurations where the buyer and seller arerestricted to a particular language and currency.

There are a number of transaction systems using electroniccommunications, including the internet, as conduits for carrying out anexchange of goods and funds. The conventional technology includes anumber of examples containing some relevant elements for internationaltransactions for goods to be sold across national boundries.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,542 to King, Jr. et al., teaches a system forordering items using an electronic catalog stored on a publiclyaccessible database. The patent includes a description of a relatedscheme of online catalogs provided by the Prodigy Corp., as set out incol. 1, beginning with line 26. The use of the Prodigy system suggeststhe use of the internet for providing both catalog information and as aconduit for entering electronic purchase orders to be sent to thevendors. A key aspect of the catalog system is that both public andprivate catalogs can be maintained. Both can be updated electronically,presumably through the internet since other methods are not described.The catalog system includes provisions for pre-negotiated prices andpredetermined shopping lists for specific customers. A key marketingaspect of this system is the provision of competing product informationsince catalog data from multiple vendors is provided for the publicelectronic catalog. The authorization aspects of the requisition processappear to be limited to that carried out within a customer's ownorganization rather than through a third party bank or clearing house.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,405 to Chasek discloses a system of creatingelectronic or virtual money for personal transactions. The virtual moneycan integrate the functions of cash, checks and credit cards while thesystem provides constant surveillance against fraud. This virtual moneyis conceived as an international medium of exchange, and includesprovisions for automated sales tax collections and payments. As aresult, the purchase price is incremented by multipliers for city, stateand federal tax within national borders. The system uses an on-personterminal permitting automated transactions of all sorts as well asrecord-keeping of personal accounts. This terminal system includes aknown universal toll-paying system using point-of-sale debiting viaradio signals. The Chasek system uses an electronic banking sub-systemthat can transfer funds between two individuals. The operation of thesystem includes the use of medium-exchange packets of bytes thatidentify the personal account custodian, the payer, the amount oftransaction, the type of transaction, the vendor, a security number anda national code. Such a transfer uses a personal account custodian totransfer between the customer (who has transferred funds into apredetermined account) to another individual such as a vendor who thenobtains access to those funds via the personal account custodian.Communications between personal account custodians and vendor accountcustodians are carried out using radio waves via a satellitetransponder, insuring that a personal account custodian in one countrycan reach a vendor account custodian in another country.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,225 to Botvin discloses a method for conductingfinancial transactions via digital facsimile wherein the transaction iscleared after the draft documents faxed by the payer to the payer's bankare presented and processed via machine-readable equipment.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,493 to Wojcik et al. discloses a system for managingcustomer orders including an electronic catalog to streamline the buyingfunctions. The system has an order management function, integrated withfinancial services to process orders and create financial records. Thesystem also includes a logistics function for consolidating orders foroptimum delivery over existing transportation systems. An inventorymanagement system is also included and arranged to cooperate with theorder management function. This functionality is achieved by accessingeach subsystem data base on a real-time basis by horizontal integrationof each subsystem to create an efficient data flow between the varioussubsystems. The selection of the details of transporting the goods isone of the subsystems that is accessed on a real time basis. Thus,customers entering orders can be provided with the shipping costs aswell as other shipping details as the order is input. Likewise, creditauthorization can be carried out on a real time basis as an order isentered.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,368 to Morita et al. discloses an electroniccurrency conversion apparatus. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,293 toBosten discloses a transaction card capable of authorizing a transactionusing various currencies. U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,721 to Chung et al.discloses a computer reservation system using a “global currency” tocarry out consolidation of travel reservations throughout the world.U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,115 to Fraser discloses a system for automaticallymatching sellers and buyers using, among other techniques, the internet.U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,189 to Doi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,306 toMorimoto et al. both disclose electronic language translators.

If there are international sales, realistic currency conversions becomea factor, as do issues of customs, import/export duties and shipping.These are not taken into account in conventional transaction system.Also, in conventional internet or intranet transaction systems thetranslations of all foreign catalogues, including the full terms of saleand shipping costs, are not always provided. As a result the buyer ofgoods from a foreign country often faces large, unexpected charges upondelivery of the goods. Such systems are clearly not suitable for aglobal market place or the requirements of doing businessinternationally.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to consolidate allthe disparate components of an international sale into one programwhereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almost anywhere in theworld.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a transactionsystem whereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almost anywhere inthe world using the buyer's own language.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transactionsystem whereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almost anywhere inthe world and see a display of goods priced in the buyers own currency.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide atransaction system whereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almostanywhere in the world and be provided with full shipping charges for thedelivery of selected goods so that the shipping costs are paid as partof the overall price of the goods selected.

It is still an additional object of the present invention to provide atransaction program whereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almostanywhere in the world so that goods selected for purchase are priced toinclude any import duties or other such taxes accruing to the purchaserthereby allowing the purchaser to pay these funds as part of the cost ofthe goods selected at the time of the purchase.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide atransaction system whereby a purchaser can go shopping by computeralmost anywhere in the world and purchase goods using an approved creditcards conventional system, or other electronic currencies.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide atransaction system whereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almostanywhere in the world so that the buyer is able to compare products fromdifferent countries on a global scale.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a transactionsystem whereby a buyer can go shopping by computer almost anywhere inthe world to facilitate direct consumer sales or business to businesssales.

Yet an additional object of the present invention is to provide a forumwhereby manufacturers can expand into new export markets by way of atransaction system that allows a buyer to shop by computer virtuallyanywhere in the world, thereby lowering distribution costs to themanufacturers and as a result, consumer costs.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by asystem for carrying out an international transaction over EMFconventional links carried out over the internet using computer tocomputer communications. The process is initiated by accessing aninternet web site or private site controlled by the internationaltransaction program. The customer accessing the web site then selects alanguage in which to view catalogue information. The customer alsoselects the currency in which to pay for the products to be bought.After selecting products for consideration the customer can triggercalculation of all charges involved in an international transaction forpurchasing the selected product by selecting of a shipping destination.If the customer chooses, he can initiate the order for the selectedproduct including automatic credit authorization, and the generation ofan electronic title.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart depicting the operation of the transaction systemof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The design of the international shopping and transaction system of thepresent invention creates a seamless order entry system for shopping onthe World Wide Web or private networks. A plurality of computerdatabases and systems are accessed to complete the functions necessaryfor both national and international transactions for the purchase ofgoods and services. All of the interactions between the various externaldatabases and the transaction program are controlled by transactionprogram. The transaction system contains or interacts with variousdatabases, including:

-   1) product and catalogue information, including translations to    different languages of product catalogues;-   2) currency information, including conversion data and alarm data    indicating instability;-   3) product codes from harmonized tariff tables, including tax and    import information, including administrative requirements and data    for satisfying such requirement as well as foreign duty information,    including methods of calculating all duties, luxury taxes, etc.;-   4) vendor inventory and order entry database;-   5) shipping information, including all options for each leg of a    journey between product origination and customer destination.-   6) credit authorization and/or funds transfer confirmation database    and processing system; and,-   7) customer information, including credit and financial data, as    well as purchasing records and profiles.

These databases interact in the manner shown in the flowchart of FIG. 1and as describeted below to provide all of the necessary information tocomplete a transaction. Communications between the transaction program,the customer and the various databases can be carried out using any ofelectromagnetic force (EMF) wave communications link such as radiowaves, light pulses, telephone lines, etc. The system integrates all ofthe aforementioned databases, (depicted as databases 1-7 in FIG. 1),including databases owned by the system operator controlling thetransaction system of the present invention, as well as externaldatabases (such as credit authorization database 6).

The initial entry into the system provides an opportunity to determinethe speaking language of the customer. The selection of languageoperates a default to select the most likely currency of the customerunless the customer indicates otherwise. The system is set up so any orall countries of customers can be linked to any language and pricesconverted to any currency. However, in practical terms some productswill not be available in all countries nor appropriate for allcountries. Once the language has been determined and the currency hasbeen selected, the customer is then able to review product listings thathave prices that reflect the currency and taxes of the country in whichthe customer resides.

The precise operation of the inventive international transaction systemis depicted in the flow diagram of FIG. 1, which is suitable fornational as well as international transactions. At step 101, a useraccesses the internet web site upon which the customer portion of thetransaction is carried out. A menu is provided to the user or customerpermitting selection from among a plurality of different catalogues in amanner already well known in the conventional art. However, the presenttransaction system differs from conventional systems in that the user isable to select a preferred language at step 102.

A plurality of catalogues, each translated into a plurality of differentlanguages are available on the system. A particular catalogue or set ofcatalogues, in a preferred language, are accessed and processing center(step 104) from the first database and downloaded for access by theuser. Preferably, the language translation databases containing thetranslations of all of the catalogue material are held in separatedatabases on computers separate from those handling the interface withthe customers. This arrangement will save time and memory space for thecomputers actually handling the transaction. The first database can bemanaged by the system operator of the inventive transaction system orcan be external to the transaction system. In the latter case, thesystem operator can access such data over the internet, intranet or anyother electromagnetic force (EMF) wave communications link.

Preferably, the user is provided with a plurality of differentcatalogues from among which to select on a real time basis. It isexpected that many of the catalogues will be from sources outside of theUnited States, as well as the English-speaking world. Consequently,there must be pre-translated versions of catalogues in non-Englishlanguages, thereby allowing real time access of each of the cataloguesin a plurality of different languages.

This is handled by the first data base and processing center (depictedas 1^(st) database in FIG. 1) which serves as a catalogue builder. Atstep 105 a desired catalogue (and its country of origin) is selected andthe country of the customer is input to select a default currency, whichis used as a trigger to guide the operation or portions of thetransaction process once a product or products are selected from theelectronic catalogues. The downloading of the country of origin of theselected catalogue also triggers an automatic access of the translationdatabase (2^(nd) database and processing center in FIG. 1) to providethe specific currency conversion between that of the original cataloguecountry and that of the customer as selected by the automatic defaults.However, the customer has additional currency conversion options asdescribed with respect to the 112 supra.

Since a plurality of catalogues are contemplated, a “power search” for aspecific product (or service) from among all of the catalogues isavailable to the customer in order to decrease the search time for thedesired products. If an optional “power search” is requested at step107, automatic access of the language translation database occurs tosearch the selected language versions of each of the cataloguescontained therein. Once this has been done, a list of catalogues isprovided to the customer in menu form so that the customer may view anyor all of the catalogues.

At step 108 the customer selects and views a particular catalogue andproduct within that catalogue for consideration. The product ispresented in menu form so that the variations and permutations, andother characteristics of the product can be studied. This is done inmenu form in a manner well known in the conventional art directed toelectronic catalogues. In the alternative, a catalogue from a particularvendor can be selected instead of going through the “power search” ofthe entire catalogue inventory. Further, the “power search” engine canbe activated once more to find a particular product in the selectedcatalogue. In the alternative, a printed index (such as those used inhard copy catalogues) can be provided.

Making a selection from the catalogue produces linked web pages for anyof the products listed. The power search function from the product pageallows the customer to search for key words for one or all of thecatalogues listed. In each catalogue a manufacturer's index allows tolook at products from a single manufacturer. The customer can also gobackward or forwards through the program at any time. A picture (orseveral pictures) of the product are normally accompanied by adescription of the product, name of the manufacturer, shipping weight,cost (in the customer's currency), and other information about orderingoptions (available sizes, colors, styles, etc.) and the means to selectmultiple units of the product (with the desired options).

When a particular product is selected in the customer's currency, aprice in the customer's currency is automatically requested. Normallycurrency is chosen by default (step 105). However, the customer has theoption of selecting a particular currency (step 112) in which he wantsthe catalogue price of the selected products. The currency conversion iscarried out at the second database and processing center. This seconddatabase provides a “real time” conversion from the currency of thecountry in which the catalogue originates to that selected by thecustomer. The price is provided to the customer with a clear indicationthat this is the price for delivery at the vendors factory or at one ofthe vendor's distributors, not the customer's location.

However, there are difficulties with “real time” currency conversion.For example, because the currency trading is carried out electronically,there may be an almost constant change in the conversion rate.Consequently, it is necessary to freeze the conversion rate for purposesof carrying out a selected transaction at a particular point in time.This can be done automatically (step 116) at the time that the customerinitially asks for the converted catalogue price by selecting aparticular product. In order to compensate for any disparity between thequoted exchange rate and the real exchange rate when the transactionbetween the customer and vendor takes place (either independently orthrough the auspices of the present transaction system), the transactionsystem adds a small percentage to the conversion rate (step 117). Thispercentage can also accommodate any charges to the vendor or customerfor using the transaction system and taking advantages of theconveniences inherent thereto.

At step 118, an automatic alarm is activated when one or both of thecurrencies in the selected conversion process are exhibiting widefluctuations in value. Such fluctuations can be determined by the systemoperator so that when in the operator's opinion, currencies becomeunstable, transactions in one or both of the subject currencies can besuspended by the system. Such suspension can be automatic or manual,depending upon the preferences of the system operator. When the decisionis made, a message is sent to the customer instead of a price,indicating that because of instability in the currency market,transactions in a particular currency have been suspended. At whichtime, the customer can be offered the option of an alternative currency,if such an alternative is feasible. For another option, the customer canbe offered a higher price to compensate for wide swings in currencyconversion values. Any or all of these opinions are presented to thecustomer, along with any other desired catalogue information, at step119.

Should the currency conversion be stable, the price is displayed to thecustomer almost instantaneously after either step 105 or optional step112. Also displayed with the price is a message indicating that theprice displayed is limited to the vendor's factory, or one of hisoutlets, however the vendor may choose. The message will also indicatethat the customer must request additional information to obtain theprice for the product to be delivered to a destination of the customerschoosing. It is crucial that the message clearly indicate to thecustomer that there is far more expense involved to obtaining the goodsthan merely the original price at the factory or the distributor of thevendor. This is especially true if the vendor and customer are indifferent countries, such as the United States and the Netherlands (seeAppendix I).

Thus, the customer is given the option of determining the real price ofthe transaction. If the customer makes this request (step 120), the nextstage of the inventive process is carried out. Responsive to anaffirmative answer by the customer, a commodity code for the selectedproduct is obtained (step 122) by accessing the third database andprocessing center, containing look-up tables of the harmonizedinternational tariff tables and classification system, as well as theformats for any necessary import/export data, and administrativerequirements for all countries involved in possible transactions. If thevendor's country of origin or the destination country have commoditycodes different from those of the harmonized tables, a search isconducted in other databases by the third database and processing centerto determine the correct commodity code. This will be used to look upother data related to the product and the country of destination, aswell as generate appropriate documents from the third database. Thecommodity code can be displayed to the customer for his or herinformation. However, this is not necessary. Rather, the commodity codein conjunction with the country of destination is used to triggercertain subsequent operations of the inventive transaction process asdepicted in FIG. 1.

The “real price” or the price to deliver selected products to aspecified point (presumably one convenient to the customer) entails thecost of all freight for each leg of the journey, insurance (ifdesirable), sales taxes, handling charges, document generation andforwarding charges, import/export duties, and “value added” taxes aswell as luxury taxes (if applicable). The first step in calculating thecost of freight is to find out the total number of items to be shipped.This is input by the customer at step 124 at the point a determinationis made between retail and wholesale transactions based on product typeand amount, and customer identity. This determination can trigger theselection of shipping conditions at step 128 supra. This operation willtrigger an operation (step 125) of checking with the vendor that theindicated number of the selected products is available. This is done byaccessing a fourth database and processing center (preferably generatedand maintained by the selected vendor), automatically contacting thevendor and requesting confirmation of the inventory. Should therequested number of products be unavailable, a message can be sent backto the transaction program to be displayed to the customer. Also, anyadditional information regarding product availability, such as expecteddelivery dates etc., can be provided at this time.

At step 126, the customer inputs the destination for purposes ofcalculating the cost of delivering the selected product or products tothat destination. This information, in conjunction with the commoditycode triggers the particular calculations for packaging, shipping,taxes, duties, insurance etc. of the rest of the transaction process.This is necessary to select the correct freight routes and charge. If,for example, the destination point is within the vendor's country oforigin (a determination made at step 126), the calculation of transportcharges and duties is much simplified. Calculation of standard freightcharges is provided, along with the optional insurance and any othercharges, to the customer at step 127. This information can be displayedon the screen as soon as the customer indicates the destination pointdue to the simplicity of the calculations.

The options that can be displayed at step 127 allow the customer tochoose the various transport and insurance options that are available(depending on retail/wholesale status). Also, the vendor may offer astandard transportation package to customers that may be less expensive(because of vendor volume and leverage with carriers) than the optionsthat would be available to individual customers. Where appropriate,customer selection of the options can be made at step 128 (if permittedby the vendor in a national transaction). A simplified operation of theinventive process would occur if a national transaction and no customertransport options were involved. As a result only sales tax would beadded to the freight charges. Once the decisions at step 128 are made,the sales tax can be computed automatically and displayed to thecustomer at step 129. For most domestic transactions within the UnitedStates, the process would end at this point unless the customer chose toenter the order and begin that part of the process dealing with creditconfirmation and the transfer of electronic title and the shipping ofthe selected goods.

For international transactions (to which the present invention isspecifically directed) and situations in which a customer can selectsome freight options, the calculation of freight charges is for morecomplex. First, (at step 130), revenue units are calculated for theproducts to be shipped in four different ways, including: metric unitsfor air transport; metic units for sea transport; standard English unitsfor air transports; and, standard English units for sea transport. Theprecise calculations of each type of revenue unit are found is AppendixII. These calculations are standard in the shipping industry, and basedupon information derived from the third data base, including packingrequirements based upon the characteristics of the selected product orproducts. The type of revenue unit selected by a vendor, customer or theinstant transaction program depends upon a variety of factors,including: the country of origin of the vendor; the country of origin ofthe shipper; the type of product involved (commodity code); and, (mostimportant) the least expensive method of transporting the goods atissue.

At step 132 a determination of the discrete legs or links of the overalltransport route are determined based upon shipping data contained in thefifth data base and processing center. This is also done based upon astandard shipping route dictated by the vendor, the route requested bythe customer, or some combination of the two. The transport route isfurther based on type of product indicated or the commodity codeprovided by the third data base, which also provides the shipping andadministrative requirements of a specific product. In many cases, thevarious discrete legs of the route are dictated by the nature of theproduct being shipped. For example, an automobile being shipped fromGermany to the United States will be transported by sea, and embarked onship at the port in Germany most convenient to the automobilemanufacturer. The manufacturer will most likely dictate that the seatransport take place from the German port of his choice to New Yorkcity. At which point, the customer has options of how the car will betaken from the warf, through U.S. Customs, and to the final destination.Thus, between the vendor and the customer each discrete leg of thetransport route is determined (step 132), as well as the costsaccompanying each of those discrete legs of the journey (step 134).

An example of such expenses are found in Appendix I which depicts thecosts for each discrete leg of the journey, and how such costs are addedto the factory price of the goods of issue. Each discrete leg of routeincludes costs such as insurance, taxes, licensing fees, handling fees,and documentation fees. Thus, based upon the origin of the goods and thedestination, as well as the revenue units for the package of the goodsand the classification of the goods themselves, the cost of eachdiscrete link is calculated in a manner similar to the example found inAppendix I. The calculations take place in a number of sub-steps asindicated in Appendix I.

Of course, the sub-steps are determined by the origin and destination.At step 134, all costs such as freight, handling, basic taxes (such assales tax) and documentation fees, insurance, import/export charges,etc. are calculated to provide a total cost to obtain the selectedproduct or products at the selected destination. In many placesimport/export fees are based not upon a factory price of the goods butupon a first preliminary sum, including all necessary expenses to movethe product or goods to the point at which the duties are assessed.These duties are added to create a second preliminary sum because undersome conditions, additional taxes such as luxury taxes, value addedtaxes, etc. are based upon the second preliminary sum which includestransport expenses, some sales taxes and some import/export duties. Sothe final sum displayed at step 136 includes all of the taxes under allof the circumstances is based upon applying coefficients (based upon taxrates) to the previous two sums. The example of Appendix I indicates thevalues that are involved, and how some of the taxes in the destinationcountry are calculated based upon previously calculated product cost,freight costs, insurance, taxes, etc.

The results of this calculation are converted (at step 136) to thecurrency requested by the customer in the same manner as described withrespect to steps 112, 116, 117 and 118. Thus, a potential customer hasthe full cost of a foreign transaction displayed in front of him beforethe transaction is actually carried out. This is in contrast to otherelectronic or internet transaction systems, which do not addressinternational transactions or any but the simplest tax and shippingcharges.

At this point the customer has the option of investigating the prices ofother products or of entering the order for the products selected. Toorder the products (step 140) the customer activates the appropriatearea on the menu screen. This activation triggers two processes. In thefirst process an order is sent directly to the vendor electronically(step 142) requesting shipment to the customer's destination. While thisis the preferred method, the order can be buffered electronically byrecording devices, or handled by human operators, or any combination ofthe three to access the order entry operation of the fourth data baseand processing center, preferably maintained by the vendor. The vendorcan then process the order for the selected products deduct frominventory and arrange for shipping to the requested destination.

In order for the vendor to ship the selected products, it will benecessary that to access a source of funds from the customer.Consequently, it is necessary that the electronic order also initiate asecond process, confirmation of customer credit (step 150). This can bedone by accessing a sixth data base and processing center, preferably acredit or funds transfer system. Preferably, this operation will becarried out using a credit card processing center to receive and encodethe credit card number using a commercial security system such as PGP(Pretty Good Protection) to confirm the validity of the credit card. Thesame processing center can then send a confirmation for the respectivecustomer order to the vendor (step 160) by accessing the vendor orderentry system (fourth database). Transmission of credit data betweencustomer, vendor and standard credit card system carried out by theinstant transaction system.

However, standard credit card authorization is not necessary for theinventive system to function. A conventional authorization can becarried out using two commercial banks, one representing the vendor andthe other the customer. This is the manner in which funds are usuallytransferred between two countries having different currencies. However,such transfers are often awkward and time consuming requiring exchangeof papers and the approval of bank officers. Thus, the conventionalexchange of funds between foreign banks could greatly hinder theoperation of the inventive system even if carried out electronically bythe present transaction system. Consequently, the use of internationalcredit cards, such as American Express, is generally favored to expeditethe operation of the present invention. However, even internationalcredit cards can sometimes hinder the operation of the present inventiondue to limitations on the banks issuing the credit cards.

Consequently, another preferred method of authorizing credit includesthe establishment of a system of clearing houses operating parallel tothat of commercial banks and credit card organizations. Each vendorparticipating with the transaction system provider operating the presentinvention would make arrangements to accept credit verifications fromlocal clearing houses established by the system operator in each countrywhere the vendors are located. The clearing houses in differentcountries would be in direct electronic communication with each otherover the internet, satelite links, intranet, dedicated data lines or anyEMF communications links, providing data transfer secured by commercialencrypting packages, such as PGP or SET. The clearing houses in eachcountry could accept local credit cards in the same manner as any localvendor. Thus, a customer's local credit card could provide access tofunds to a local clearing house like any vendor obtaining funds viacredit card, which could transfer credit for the customer to a clearinghouse overseas without the necessity of passing through the complicatedinternational banking procedures. A foreign vendor whose products areabout to be purchased by the customer could be paid through a electronicclearing house that has received clearance from the clearing house inthe customer's country. The clearing house in the vendor's country wouldact like a local credit card company, transferring funds to the vendoron behalf of the customer. Preferably, the entire transaction would takeplace electronically in the same manner that most credit cardtransactions are handled conventionally. Thus, funds available to acustomer from local bank credit in the Netherlands could be translatedinto funds available to American factory which will send the car to aVirginia port for export (see Appendix I).

Once electronic funds (or other authorization) are transferred to thevendor (step 161) from a local clearing house, the vendor will utilize aconnection to the transaction system of the present invention togenerate an electronic title (step 165) also referred to as a commercialinvoice. Paper copies of the title or commercial invoice can also begenerated from the electronic original for archival purposes or forpresentation to entities requiring hard copies to further process thetitle or commercial invoice. Generation of the electronic title (at step165) is done to create a faster transfer of title through all theofficial channels that must approve of the title and from there to thecustomer. The electronic title can be generated by the vendor or theinstant transaction system upon authorization by the vendor.Conventionally the hard copy of the commercial invoice accompanies thegoods and must be hand-carried to all of the official entities (such asnational the customs services) that must process the papers, check thegoods and authorize movement in and out of a particular country. Also,the conventional handling of the commercial invoices results in extrafees to the customer, but cannot be avoided since it must take place atevery discrete leg of the shipping route. Further, the loss of thesepapers can be catastrophic in terms of receiving the goods in a timelyfashion.

Upon generating the electronic commercial invoice (step 165 based uponvendor authorization or provided by the vendor), the vendor must carryout two types of activities. The first is administrative, and includessatisfying the requirements of the various governmental and regulatoryentities controlling commerce and manufacturer at the location of thevendor (step 180). The second is to arrange transportation to the pointrequested by the customer (step 170). Under the simplest condition, thismeans paying the sales tax and a carrier to ship the goods at least partof the way to the customer's requested destination.

However, when international transactions are involved, such as thatdepicted in Appendix I, a great deal more administrative work isnecessary. Further, there are also added complications and expenses inthe actual packing, handling and shipping processes. In such asituation, the vendor must arrange and pay for transport from thefactory to a shipping port (step 170), as well as all handling charges,warf fees, packing fees and the insurance that is always necessary whensending valuable goods by ship. A similar process takes place when goodsare sent by air although there are fewer complications in terms ofmoving the goods from a terminal (usually where the national customs andexport authorities must approve the goods) onto a plane. Of course, tomove anything onto an international carrier such as a ship or a plane,the commercial invoice, packing list and any governmental release papersare needed, indicating that goods have been cleared for export. In thealternative the present transaction system can make the shoppingarrangements on behalf of the vendor.

Along with the physical packing, handling and shipping of the goods, itis necessary to carry out the administrative functions. The presentinventive system handles these (step 185) by sending electronic requeststo the necessary governmental agencies based upon the commodity codefrom the harmonized and the country of destination. This combinationwill trigger a series of operations (out of a large number of possibleoperations) to satisfy the administrative requirements for carrying outthe transaction, including the generation of all necessary documentsbased on data from the third database.

For example, the combination of destination and commodity code mayautomatically trigger a request to the Department of Commerce (DOC) foran export license. This can be done electronically since the DOC, likemost government entities, is capable of receiving communications viae-mail and responding thereto. The electronic title can be sent as partof the request for the export license, and the response from the statedepartment returned electronically. The electronic documentation fromthe DOC can then be used to make a request to the State Department toobtain clearance to export the subject goods, if the commodity code anddestination country justify that such a request be made. The electronicindication of an export license from the Department of Commerce and theelectronic clearance document from the State Department can be sentelectronically to the U.S. Customs service along with the electronictitle to obtain prompt clearance that will allow the goods to betransferred quickly from the local carrier to an international carriersuch as a plane or ship.

As step 170, the vendor has the option of paying the local taxes, localtransport costs, insurance, packaging, etc. himself, or contracting tohave some of this done though the inventive transaction system. Forexample, the transaction system provider can arrange to pay local taxes,arrange for local transport and insurance. However, because most vendorscurrently have systems in place to efficiently handle such tasks, it isunlikely that the duties will fall to the operator of the transactionsystem.

On the other hand, the payment of export duties, export license fees andhandling through customs are tasks far more suited to the presenttransactions system since it is normal to have the customer pay forthese requirements, and the system operator has direct access to fundsprovided on behalf of the customer, either through a credit card companyor the system operators own electronic clearing houses. The electronicdocuments can easily be converted into hard copies if signatures arenecessary and the signature converted back to electronic documents. Withthe increasing acceptance of government entities in general to acceptelectronic signatures (such as that provided by a facsimile machine), itis feasible that electronic signatures can be attached to the modifiedelectric documents by a number of ways already well-known in theconventional technology. Approvals from various government entities andthe customs service can be added to the document electronically eitherby machine or by scanning in the written signature and stamps of anauthorizing official.

When dealing with international carriers such as ships or airplanes,goods to be transported are normally moved with the commercial invoiceattached thereto. The goods are placed into the keeping of an officialof the international carrier (step 176), such as a ship's captain, andthe captain also takes possession of the commercial invoice (step 186).Normally, a bill of lading and export packing list are attached to thegoods and a copy kept with the commercial invoice. In conventionaltransactions, when reaching the destination port, the internationalcarrier official (such as the shop's captain) will turn over thecommercial invoices to a commercial entity which specializes in movingthe papers from the carrier to the custqms department of the destinationcountry. This also adds expense to international transactions. However,with the present transaction system, the electronic titles and exportpacking list for the goods can be transferred directly from theinternational carrier official by system operator to the nationalcustoms departments of the destination country at the port receiving thegoods at issue (step 187). Normally this is done by carriers such asFedEx, UPS, etc., and is often done in conjunction with moving the goodsoff the warf/ramp/tarmac to the national customs area (step 177). Ratherthan providing a hard copy of a commercial invoice, an electronic copywith the authorization of the international carrier can be providedeither as an electronic document or a hard copy can be generated andprovided with the signature of an official of the international carrier.Preferably, the electronic documentation will be presented to thecustoms officials along with payment of the precalculated taxes, importduties, value added taxes, luxury taxes, etc (step 188). Transfer offunds can be made electronically to the national customs service orother governmental services if this is permitted.

Otherwise, the transaction system of the present invention can arrangefor the funds to be provided to the international carrier or some otheragent for presentation to the customs officials when the commercialtitle, bill of lading, etc. are presented so that the goods can clearnational customs.

Once the goods have been moved out of the customs area, a local carriercan take possession (step 178) and begin delivery to the requestedcustomer destination (step 179). The present system is capable ofarranging payments with local carriers so that the customer does nothave to go through this process. It is expected that this arrangementwill be more convenient since the translation system operator willprobably have better arrangements with local carriers that can beobtained by individual customers. The system operator will also havedirect access to customer funds to ensure that payment to the localfreight carriers is made.

Once the commercial invoice clears the customs service, the document canbe sent electronically via the internet, intranet, facsimile, PTP, orany other convenient means, directly to the customer (step 189). Theelectronic title, modified in accordance with the customs regulations ofthe two respective countries and the international carrier, will providea complete memorialization of transfer of the goods from the factory tothe final destination point. Based upon the dates added to theelectronic title, the customer will know exactly where his goods wereduring the time taken to traverse the route from the factory to thefinal destination. Thus, the customer will have a complete record formonitoring costs and determining the point at which possible damageoccurred.

Once an order is entered (step 140) the customer information is loadedinto the customer database and inventory information updated. Thecustomer information can be used to create customer profiles to bestored in the 7^(th) database and processing center. Such informationcan later be used to guide customers to catalogues or products relatedto previous purchases, as well as previously selected languages andcurrencies.

The present invention provides a comprehensive point-to-point costanalysis for any international transaction, as well as transactionsconducted within a single country. All costs are disclosed to thecustomer before the order is actually entered. The transaction systemalso provides automatic fund transfers via credit card systems orvirtual currency in clearing houses to carry out the transaction, payingany necessary governmental agencies electronically. By conductingelectronic transactions, the necessity of forwarding paperwork ininternational transactions is often eliminated, and the overall costsreduced. Further, by providing an electronic title as the commercialinvoice, the documentation flow is facilitated, costs reduced and thecustomer receives proof of purchase in a more timely fashion. As aresult, international transactions can be carried out without unexpectedcharges being assessed against the customer upon delivery of the goods.

Although a number of embodiments of the present invention have beendisclosed by way of example, the present invention is not to be limitedthereby. Rather, the present invention should be interpreted asincluding all variations, permutations, adaptations, configurations thatwould occur to one skilled in this art who has been taught the presentinvention as construed only by the following claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A computer implemented process for carrying out aninternational commercial transaction between a buyer and a sellerpursuant to an INCOTERM selected from the group consisting of EXW, FCA,FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT, CIP, DAF, DEQ, DDU, and DDP, the processcomprising: running a transaction program on a computer system so as tointegrate processes including: (a) receiving a selection of a product tobe purchased and a destination for shipping such product to bepurchased; (b) accessing at least one local or remote database forobtaining (i) price information for the product to be purchased; and(ii) a product code from an international goods classification systempertinent to such product; and (iii) international shipping informationrelated to an origination point of such product and said destination;(c) calculating costs involved in transferring such product to saiddestination based upon said destination and such product; (d)determining a total cost of the transaction that includes a price of theproduct wherein the total cost is calculated to represent total finds tobe paid by the buyer to the seller; (e) receiving an order for suchproduct thereby triggering an electronic process for confirmingexistence of available finds; and (f) upon confirmation of availabilityof said funds, accepting said order, generating an electronic record,such record including the content of a commercial invoice, to facilitatedelivery of such product to said destination.
 3. The process of claim 2,wherein delivery of the product includes delivery via land, air, or sea.4. The process of claim 2, wherein delivery of the product includeselectronic delivery.
 5. A computer implemented process for carrying outan international commercial transaction as defined by an INCOTERMselected from the group consisting of EXW, FCA, FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT,CIP, DAF, DEQ, DDU, and DDP, the process comprising: running atransaction program on a computer system so as to integrate processesincluding: (a) receiving a selection of a product to be purchased and adestination for shipping such product to be purchased; (b) accessing atleast one local or remote database for obtaining (i) price informationfor the product to be purchased; and (ii) a product code from aninternational goods classification system pertinent to such product; and(iii) international shipping information related to an origination pointof such product and said destination; (c) calculating costs involved intransferring such product to said destination; (d) receiving an orderfor such product; and (e) generating an electronic record, such recordincluding the content of a commercial invoice.
 6. The process of claim5, further comprising the act of determining a total cost of thetransaction.
 7. The process of claim 6, wherein the transaction iscarried out between a buyer and a seller, and wherein the total cost iscalculated to represent a total sum of money to be paid from the buyerto the seller.
 8. A computer implemented process for carrying out aninternational commercial transaction, the process comprising: running atransaction program on a computer system so as to integrate processesincluding: (a) receiving a selection of a product to be purchased and adestination for transfer of such product to be purchased, saiddestination being defined by an INCOTERM selected from the groupconsisting of EXW, FCA, FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT, CIP, DAF, DEQ, DDU, andDDP; (b) accessing at least one local or remote database for obtaining(i) price information for the product to be purchased; and (ii) aproduct code from an international goods classification system pertinentto such product; (c) calculating costs involved in transferring suchproduct to said destination; (d) receiving an order for such product;and (e) generating an electronic record, such record including thecontent of a commercial invoice.
 9. A computer implemented process forcarrying out an international commercial transaction as defined by anINCOTERM selected from the group consisting of EXW, FCA, FAS, FOB, CFR,CIF, CPT, CIP, DAF, DEQ, DDU, and DDP, the process comprising: (a)electronically receiving a selection of a product to be purchased and adestination for shipping such product to be purchased; (b) accessing atleast one local or remote database for obtaining (i) price informationfor the product to be purchased; and (ii) a product code from aninternational goods classification system pertinent to such product; (c)electronically calculating costs involved in transferring such productto said destination; (d) electronically receiving an order for suchproduct; and (e) generating an electronic record, such record includinga name of a buyer, a name of a seller, a description of the product, atotal cost, and an indication of whether insurance, freight, and dutyare included in the total cost.
 10. A process for transferring goodsfrom a seller to a buyer in a transaction spanning international bordersas defined by an INCOTERM selected from the group consisting of EXW,FCA, FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT, CIP, DAF, DEQ, DDU, and DDP comprising:(a) electronically transferring a selection of an item from a firstcomputer operated by a potential purchaser of said item to a secondcomputer; (b) electronically transferring a selection of a destinationfor said item from the first computer to the second computer; (c)retrieving an electronically stored product code from an internationalgoods classification system pertinent to such item; (d) electronicallycalculating a cost of transferring said item under said selectedINCOTERM from said seller to said buyer, said cost including a purchaseprice for said item; (e) electronically transferring said cost to saidbuyer; (f) electronically preparing a data set containing a name of thebuyer, a name of the seller, a description of the item, a total cost,and an indication of whether insurance, freight, and duty are includedin the total cost.